dish of the month (cooking)

Site Discussions
26

I would be interested. I’m not into buying cookbooks, as there are so many recipes and YouTube videos available free online.

27

I would participate. I like any excuse that gets me out of my cooking comfort zone.

28

No matter what the dish, or cookbook, of the month is, it’ll be outside some folks’ comfort zone and inside others’. The public library, or the reading area of the nearest bookstore, are free resources for cookbook perusal. Sometimes websites/blogs are appropriate recipe sources but they ARE more likely to have errors and be sloppily/confusingly written than the contents of a printed cookbook.

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29

Believe me, I saw as many errors in cookbooks as online websites recipes. Proof reading as profession is dead years ago.

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30

Seems like all this is going nowhere . Ok . I’ll start .
DUMPLINGS
I’m still in the dark about Pierogi
Would like to make soup dumplings
Pot stickers .
Pelmeni
Or vote for another dish .
Let’s make something and share are faults and recipes .

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31

Or how about Regional Cuisine of the month? Anyone interested in that?

It seems like we don’t have broad interest in cotm, because of the commitment, hassle to acquire books, etc. dotm seems ok though it’s one dish for a whole month. how about we pick a regional cuisine, and learn about that cuisine and specialties during the month? One can pick any dishes from that cuisine that interest them. This is something that hasn’t been done at Chowhound either. E.g. Catalan, Lebanese, Issan, Cajun, etc etc.

Any interest? Or people prefer Dotm?

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32

I’m in . I’ll vote
Regional Cuisine ; Eastern European
I’ll tackle PIEROGI
2nd vote
Regional Cuisine ; Sicily
CANNOLI

33

I like regional cooking, actually on my own, I sometimes delicate 1 week for a certain cuisine. Regional cooking always has specify ingredients and most of them time repeatedly used. Just cooking 1 meal isn’t very practical and many of the ingredients or spice are very specific, difficult to reuse that in another cooking.

I will suggest cuisine of the month a bi-monthly event.

  • need time to think and gather ingredients (most ethic shops isn’t just around the corner of the street)

What do you think?

34

I like this idea a lot! A great way to compare/contrast different chefs’ versions of the same dish, to learn about cookbooks we may have been eyeing without having to purchase them, to get turned onto websites/blogs/online recipes we might not know about…I think it’s a fabulous idea!

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35

I like that idea, especially Issan (Thai) & Lebanese, but others too.

36

I was under the impression that it wasn’t about a “challenge” but rather different ways to “skin a cat.” Learning new ways.

37

I’m a naysayer on “Regional Cuisine of the Month” because it promotes eating non-local, imported food, and also perpetuates what I think is a myth, that if you cook a Hungarian dish is Seattle or Arizona, there is no difference in the taste.

I’m not going to trash such a thread if it gets going, but I would suggest “Seasonal Dish of the Month” so that people are using the bounty of the season and available foods.

I realize that not everyone lives in the same climate zone, but I still think focusing on an ingredient widely available in February is more intriguing.

38

Ok . I vote for PORK and TURNIPS. It’s January and are available to me .

39

I was thinking of pork, although I actually would have picked it for November. I was also thinking of suggesting walnuts.

I get the feeling you were trying to be dismissive of the whole idea, but I’ll play it with a straight face anyway and respond that I suspect too many posters here do not live in a zone where turnips are available. I happen to love them, but I can’t find them where I shop.

40

I like the idea . I just want to make something . Walnuts are great .

41

Oh! Good.

42

I should have added to my last post that if you want to make something, and would be inspired to make something with walnuts and – above all – if you are okay with making a pierogi-like stuffed pasta, there is a wonderful italian dish called pansoti con salsa di noci which is pasta pouches filled with aromatic greens, and then the hot cooked pouches are smothered with a no-cook sauce made of walnuts, stale bread and milk, which have been pounded together until creamy.

You can find many recipes on line, including ones in English, but you can also use Google translate. Some call for adding cream to the sauce (frowned upon by purists), others will add or omit garlic or other herbs. The challenging part is finding the right kind of greens for the stuffing, because in Italy, it would mainly be borage but also wild greens and weeds. But any local combo of green stuff will do. Just cook them long and well to remove any bitterness.

If you don’t feel like making a ravioli or pierogi type stuffed pasta, the walnut sauce is also good with just ribbony noodles (not egg however) or on gnocchi.

43

BTW when i say regional cuisine, that includes U.S. as well.

Ultimately I am just throwing ideas out. I think there are about 5-10 posters interested in the variations of DOTM idea, and probably more once the idea gets started. so its just a matter you all finding a theme that you are interested in participating and keeps you engaged- DOTM, RCOTM, SDOTM. You can have the flexibility too if there is interest to keep this going- some months it can be DOTM, some months it can be SDOTM, RCOTM, etc.

44

I’m a fan of it being Dumplings or a Regional Cuisine since one can cook recipes that fit any (most any?) diet. If a dish ends up being inspired by the cuisine (due to using locally sourced food, in season vegs, ect) rather than authentic that’s ok by me as long as it’s tasty.

45

I have wild arugula and loads of borage in my yard . These wont come up until spring